September 15th, 2017

News Round Up 15/09/2017

Burma

Military Torches Homes Near Border – Satellite data from Human Rights Watch shows that at least 62 Rohingya villages have been destroyed. The UN estimates that almost 400,000 refugees have now crossed into Bangladesh in the last month.

Burma Ambassador Rejects Allegations of Ethnic Cleansing – Burma is the victim of terrorists and “false media” reporting on the Rohingya crisis in Rakhine state, the country’s ambassador to the United States told VOA. “if people are innocent, innocent villagers, they have no reason to flee away from their villages,” he said.

Al Qaeda Warns Burma of ‘Punishment’ – Al Qaeda militants have called for support for Myanmar’s self-identifying Rohingya Muslims, who are facing a security crackdown that has sent about 400,000 of them fleeing to Bangladesh, warning that Myanmar would face “punishment” for its “crimes.”

John McCain to punish Myanmar in defense bill – The US senator said Tuesday he will strip language from a bill authorizing defense spending that would have expanded U.S. military cooperation with Myanmar. His criticism is one of the strongest amongst a notably weak response from western politicians.

Satellite data showing the burning of one of at least 62 Rohingya villages (HRW)

Nagorno-karabakh

Blogger Lapshin departs from Azerbaijan to Israel – The blogger was arrested in Belarus for making ‘anti-state’ criticisms against Azerbaijan, and for illegal crossing. The extradition and persecution against Lapshin was widely slammed by international community as a gross violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of speech and movement.

In its bid to solve a growing regional crisis, Nigeria’s government may have made it worse. For months, the revival of fifty year-old secessionist rhetoric for the creation of a “Biafra” nation for the Igbo ethnic group has grown in popularity across Nigeria’s southeast led by Nnamdi Kanu, the self-declared leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). This week as, in a show of force, the Nigerian government deployed army troops to Abia, Kanu’s home state.

Editor-in-chief beaten by Sudan security service – The National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) released Hanadi El Siddig after three hours of detention that evening, during which she was subjected to “beating and verbal abuse”. “The personnel was forced to use violence against me by the operations police.”

Red Cross suspends work in vast region of South Sudan – The International Committee of the Red Cross says it suspended work in the Equatorias region after a driver was killed on Friday by unknown attackers in western Equatoria. The UN says at least 84 aid workers have been killed since 2013, including at least 17 this year.

There are concerns over Uganda’s compensate for landowners affected by a pipeline that will transport oil to an Indian Ocean port after accusations that some people reimbursed for earlier public projects were left worse-off. There are worries that “community participation, livelihoods and land rights could be overlooked in a quest to meet the schedule for land acquisition” for the 1,445-kilometer (898-mile) conduit that will link Uganda’s western oilfields with Tanga in Tanzania.

Ugandan farmers adopt new techniques to deal with climate change and increased drought periods. Across Uganda, agriculture is mainly rain-fed, which means most small-scale farmers do not have irrigation systems that help them survive periods of drought. A new form of smart farming, defined by cutting-edge techniques, water-saving methods, and not as vulnerable as traditional farming to the vagaries of weather and will improve the economic situation of smaller family run farms.

Hudson Nsubuga, who teachs other farmers in Mukono District, Uganda about smart agriculture, poses for a portrait at a community farm. Nsubuga was demonstrating the farming innovations that he uses and teaches that help farmers adapt to changes in climate. (Patricia Lindrio / GPJ Uganda)